Thermal unit commitment with nonlinear power flow constraints

A formulation of the thermal unit commitment problem including nonlinear power flow constraints is presented, making the use of more realistic constraint models possible. It also allows potential VAr production to be used as a criterion for the commitment of generators in strategic locations of the network. The Lagrangian Relaxation framework and a variable duplication technique are employed, permitting exploitation of the separation structure of the dual cost. Some results for small to medium-sized systems are reported.